Slim Chances
by azyrian
Summary: Everything was all wrong. Robin was dying, the Titans scattered. All she was holding onto was a slim chance. RavenRobin. Oneshot


Hello all and welcome to my very first one-shot! yay...well, there's much new here, I'm just really bored and was greatly inspired to actually write down this idea that had been floating around in my head for awhile after reading 'Anything' by azarathangel. It really is an awesome story, so go read it after mine. And without further ado...the disclaimers and warnings.

Disclaimer: Think about it. I mean it. _Really_ think about it. If I owned Teen Titans I would probably be running away from crazed fans like you who are trying to kill me instead of writing fanfiction. And I don't own 'My Confession' my Josh Groban. And it's coming much later, if you're wondering.

WARNING: This story is a one-shot and that only. This is also a Raven/Robin fic. If you don't like the pair, don't flippin read. Simple as that. Oh, and if Raven seems a bit OOC, I'm sorry, but that's just how it's going to be.

Can I even have lyrics in here anymore? Oh well, if I can't, this story will be removed and I'll just repost it without the lyrics. So enjoy.

XXXXXX

**Slim Chances**

**Chapter: The one and only. **

XXXXXX

Things were all wrong. Horribly and terribly wrong. This was one of those things that you thought would never happen to you. But it did.

It started out as a simple battle. Cinderblock was wreaking havoc in the downtown area, and the Titans went to stop it. Under normal circumstances, this was fairly easy to do. But this, after all, was not normal circumstances.

Starfire and Raven took to the air, launching green and black missiles at Cinderblock. Beast Boy changed into a T-Rex and Cyborg stood on his nose, sonic cannon firing away. Robin threw an array of bird-a-rangs and a few miniature bombs at Cinderblock, knocking it back a bit. Raven was knocked out of the air by a large rock fist and Cyborg was thrown off BB's nose by the same. Just in time too; Beast Boy was knocked to the side with ease mere seconds after Cyborg had been thrown off. Robin extended his bo-staff and began to take violent whacks at its feet and head. Starfire the grasped Robin's arms and swung him around so that he kicked Cinderblock square in the face. Each of the Titans were back up again, and getting agitated at the living rock's persistence.

Raven sent a bus straight for Cinderblock's chest, but he caught it, swung and took out herself, Starfire and Beast Boy all at once. Cyborg, now on the ground, kept firing blue streams of energy at Cinderblock's head, but Cinderblock had taken up a new sport; kickball. Cyborg flew into a large nearby building as foot connected with chest. Robin sprinted at the walking rock and began to mercilessly beat it with his bo-staff. Cinderblock swatted at the air, but missed and staggered forward a bit. By now Raven had risen out of a pile of rubble and bus, slowly regaining her strength and gathering her energy.

And this was where things went horribly and terribly wrong.

Robin again went to attack Cinderblock, but this time, it was ready. When Robin launched himself into the air, preparing to kick, Cinderblock punched him hard in the chest, sending the Boy Wonder flying back twenty feet and landing hard. On the outside, he was ok, just a few bruised ribs, possibly a cracked one, and some sore muscles. But one the inside, something stopped working. The blunt force trauma on his chest had caused his heart rate to become sporadic and irregular, meaning his heart had to pump faster and faster to keep the blood flow. Something inside him broke, and caused major kidney problems, which was very, very bad. Robin stood up and tried to take a step, but he faltered, fell to the ground, and did not get back up. And Raven watched it all happen.

She yelled for the others to come quick and then flew to Robin's side. The other Titan's ran or flew at top speed at the urgent tone in Raven's voice, but mostly due to the fact that she had _yelled_. Raven felt for a pulse, and her heart skipped a few beats when she couldn't find one at first. But it was definitely there, just very irregular and even weaker.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Beast Boy asked.

"His pulse is abnormal; we need to get him to a hospital." Raven replied quickly, trying to wake her fallen comrade.

"But what about Cinderblock?" Beast Boy inquired. Raven rounded on him, her amaranthine eyes flashing angrily.

"Who cares about Cinderblock! We need to get Robin to a hospital _now_." She shouted, standing up. Beast Boy's eyes grew wider than was probably healthy and he didn't say anything more. Cyborg then picked up Robin, headed for the T-car, and drove to the hospital, breaking every traffic law along the way.

XXXXXX

That had been four days ago. And things had steadily gotten worse.

As it turned out, Robin had a heart condition. High blood pressure, the doctor said. But Cyborg protested strongly against that cause. Each Titan received yearly check-ups on their health, so there was no way he could've missed it. But Robin had it now, and that was all that mattered.

It was a large chain reaction. The trauma from Cinderblocks fist had activated anything that could happen to a person with high blood pressure, and everything that could happen, did. The arteries in his kidneys were narrow and weak, and Cinderblock's punch only destroyed them completely. The bacteria and salt in the kidneys steadily built up, having a bad effect on his heart. The reason Robin didn't get back up was because the air supply had been cut off to his heart, the doctor said. This was one of those things that didn't get better; one of those things you had to pray and hope for to turn out good, but knowing deep down that it wouldn't. His heart momentarily shut down, and now his body was recovering, just in a comatose state.

It was almost too much for them to bear. Raven blamed herself for not helping Robin when she first saw him fall, even though there was nothing she could've done. Cyborg blamed himself for not catching Robin's high blood pressure earlier. Starfire barely understood what was going on, but knew it was not good. And Beast Boy, he basically shut down; not talking, barely eating. And so they drifted apart, staying away from one another, for fear that their composure would crumble and they wouldn't be able to recover again.

The only teammate that Raven saw the most was Robin, and only because she never left his side, just in case. Cyborg had taken to the garage, building or repairing who knows what. Starfire had turned into a sobbing mess, never leaving her room; and occasionally explosion-like sounds could be heard coming from her room, most likely due to her frustration and pain. But it was Beast Boy that she hadn't seen since the day Robin was admitted. She had originally though he was barricaded in his room, but upon entering it, proved that wrong. The only other place Raven could think that he would be was Terra's statue, probably the only place he ever got comfort from anymore.

They were falling apart, that was all she knew. They weren't even the Titans anymore; just pain and sickness ravaged teens, not even living anymore. They were just a hollow shell, and empty carcass, a robot living the days simply because they would not die. And all because of one person.

Without Robin, they were just a group of friends banding together, no longer the Teen Titans. Without Robin there was a missing link, an empty space, a dark rift that grew as the days progressed. But Raven would not let go. She couldn't; if she did, she would've become like the others, just living. But now, now she had a purpose-staying by Robin's side no matter what, always being there in case he woke up; even though the doctor's said it was a slim chance.

But wasn't all that life was about was slim chances? During their battles, they had a slim chance of triumphing over the enemy, but yet they did. Even at breakfast, there was a slim chance that Beast Boy and Cyborg would ever come to an agreement; but they did. For Raven, there was a slim chance that she couldn't keep control over her emotions, and that she could lose control; but she didn't. These slim chances were what made the world go around. It was a slim chance that Raven now held on to, the only thing left in her life that was keeping her going. Because if Robin did die, her friends would practically die along with him, and then without her friends, Raven was utterly and devastatingly alone. And that was something she didn't want to be.

If was funny how you never really realize how much you love somebody until after they're gone. Even Raven saw the bittersweet humor in that. Though Robin wasn't gone, his spirit was, his _essence_ almost. His body remained, but what made him Robin had died in that fight with Cinderblock. _Almost died,_ she kept reminding herself, _he's not gone yet._

Raven would have surprised herself a week ago by thinking like that, but now her feelings were obvious. She tried to ignore the fact that there was something between Robin and herself, but the bond only grew. And what was even more astonishing was that nothing blew up when she thought of him. Raven smiled; at least she could think of him. Before, she was afraid. Afraid that if she told Robin how she felt, he would reject her, or worse, they would date, but then break it off and their friendship would never be the same again. He was her best friend, and that would be much worse than rejection. Sure, Starfire was a great friend too, but she didn't understand; she was too naive and innocent for Raven to talk to. And Beast Boy; he was so..._free._ He could do anything he put his mind to, lightened up any dark room; but Raven would dampen his spirits with her worries and thoughts. Cyborg though, was like the older brother she never had. He was a great listener, but he wouldn't understand what Raven went through on a day to day basis. But Robin, he was the one that truly knew how she felt, since he felt the same way often. She couldn't express herself, and in that, she was alone, frustrated and withdrawn. With Robin, he wouldn't express himself, and had been just as alone, frustrated and withdrawn as she was at one time, so knew what she was going through.

"Oh god, Robin. I need you here now. I need someone to talk to. I need _you_ to talk to." Raven whispered, leaning forward and brushing a stray strand of hair away from his face. A slim chance; she had been holding onto a slim chance for four days, and it was taking its toll on her heart. Sighing, she pulled her chair closer to his bed and rested her head next to his body; her hand interlaced with his, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

XXXXXX

The bright sunlight streaming through the thin linen curtains settling on Raven's face and waking her up with its warm touch. She blinked slowly, letting her eyes become accustomed to the new light. It felt so good, sitting here in a beam of sunlight, holding the hand of the person she loved most. Raven smiled and closed her eyes again, just wanting to go back to sleep and reenter the world where everything was ok.

"Raven?" a weak and hoarse voice called out as the hand she held moved slightly. Raven opened her eyes suddenly, her heart thumping loudly. She must have been dreaming, the voice was only in her head, logic told her. But her heart spoke differently.

"Robin?" she whispered, confused and thinking he couldn't possibly be awake. The hand in hers gave her a gentle squeeze.

"The one and only." came the quiet response. Raven raised her head slowly and turned to face Robin, who was awake but looking extremely haggard.

"Oh my god..." she whispered, not fully believing that he was awake and talking to her. Robin flashed her his famous heart-melting smile.

"Did you get him?" Raven looked confused. "Cinderblock?" She let out a mixture of a snort and a sob; at least he hadn't changed.

"No." she sighed, trying to contain a fit of giggles and failing miserably. Robin stared at her torn between amusement and shock.

"What?" he asked puzzled. But Raven just giggled, until the TV remote rose into the air and exploded, sending little bits of black plastic everywhere. _Oops..._

"What's so funny?" he demanded weakly. Raven looked back into his eyes.

"The fact that you almost die and the first thing you ask is if we got the bad guy." she responded seriously.

Robin smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, irony's a bitch."

Raven smirked. "That it is." But before she could continue one of the doctor's came into the room and called her out.

Dr. Christopher Malayda was one of the most respected doctor's in all of Jump City, and the only one that the Titans trusted enough to go to. In all of their experience with injuries and other doctors, he had never done anything without their permission.

When the two reached the privacy of the nearly vacant hall, Raven was becoming increasingly unnerved.

"Good news?" she asked quietly, knowing that there wasn't a chance of that. Dr. Malayda shook his head solemnly.

"I'm afraid not. I called you out here just to bring you up-to-date on his condition." Raven's eyes grew wide and bit her lip until the metallic taste of blood reached her tongue.

"He's not going to get better is he?" she asked bitterly. The doctor shook his head and continued.

"Since the arteries in his kidneys were destroyed, the blood had no where to go, so it spread. There is a sufficient amount of internal bleeding that we cannot stop. And since all of the blood is flowing out of the arteries, his heart is slowly failing." he explained softly, trying to break it lightly. Tears welled up at the corners of Raven's eyes and she put her hand to her head in shock. A food trolley down the hall exploded, sending red jello everywhere, but she ignored it.

"H-how long does he have?" she asked painfully.

"Not long. A few hours if he's lucky."

"And if he's not?" she asked quietly, trying to keep her composure.

"An hour; tops." She bit back a sob. It was too short of a time. Raven looked up at him.

"Can you call the other Titans? Just tell them to come here and make it quick." she asked, calming herself down and steeling her expression. If Robin had an hour to live she sure as hell wasn't going to ruin it by being a crying mess.

Dr. Malayda nodded and moved away to make the call. Raven turned back and looked in at Robin. Sighing, she turned the knob and opened the door.

XXXXXX

Robin saw Raven's expression change as the doctor continued to talk; he could tell it wasn't good news. But she was strong, and she came back inside the room without a single hint of what went on out there. He had to love her for that.

_I have been blind, unwilling,  
to see the true love you're giving  
I have ignored every blessing  
I'm on my knees confessing_

"What'd the doctor say?" he asked calmly after a violent coughing fit. Raven walked over and sat back down in the chair.

"He...he said you were going to be fine." she answered, taking hold of his hand again. This was probably the first time she had ever seen him without his gloves on.

"Liar." he responded, smiling slightly, coughing some more. Raven smiled let out a pitiful sob at the same time. She leaned forward and ran her fingers down the side of his face.

"I learned from Beast Boy." she said, her voice becoming hoarse. "They're on their way." she continued, "Dr. Malayda just called them."

"How have you guys been?" Robin asked.

Raven sighed. "I don't know. A complete and horrible mess, I guess." she answered, looking him in the eyes. Robin stared at her, his expression sad.

"How long have you been in this room?"

Raven chuckled a bit, stopping before anything blew up. "Three days." Robin shook his head slightly, smiling solemnly.

_That I feel myself surrender  
each time I see your face  
I am captured by your beauty  
your unassuming grace  
And I feel my heart is turning,  
and falling into place  
I can't hide, now hear my confession._

"Raven, you still surprise me." he mumbled in awe. "If there was anything I could do for you, I would..." he trailed off. Raven's eyes lit up.

"There is one thing," she said quietly. Robin's eyes lifted to hers, asking what he could possibly do. "Let me see behind the mask." she whispered, her eyes pleading with him to comply. Robin only nodded, took his free hand, and slowly detached the famous mask from his face.

Raven smiled, now she saw the true Robin, the Robin she fell in love with. His eyes were a simple grey color, but held so much thought, so much emotion that they added to his handsome features even more. Right now, the main emotion was worry and love, Raven could feel it emanating from his being.

Robin let out a stream of heart breaking coughs and spoke. "Raven, I-I'm glad that it was you who was here when I woke up." he said, trying to put his feelings into words. Raven wasn't sure what he was getting at, but hoped it was what she thought. "I've wanted to say this for a long time, but was afraid. And now that I'm not going to be around for much longer, I need to say it now." Raven waited anxiously for him to continue, trying to put a hamper down on her emotions, hoping they wouldn't run rapid.

"I love you, yeah, I guess that's what this feeling is. I've loved you from the day that I met you. And now I wish I had told you earlier." he said quietly, coughing more. Raven was beside her self with unverbalized happiness.

_I have been wrong about you  
Thought I was strong without you  
for so long, nothing could move me  
for so long nothing could change me_

"It's ok." she comforted, holding his hand with both of hers. "I know the feeling. We couldn't have known this would happen, and now we can't make up for lost time. But just know, that, I love you too." There, she had said it. The three most terrifying words in her vocabulary when strung together in a sentence. And it felt good. Throwing all logic and reason out the window and professing your love to the man that was dying felt good; she felt _free_ for the first time in her life. She felt better than any other time in her life, and all because of three simple but scary words that had come out of her mouth straight from her heart. But Death didn't care about if it felt good, all it wanted was its dues.

_Now I feel myself surrender  
each time I see your face  
I am captured by your beauty  
your unassuming grace  
And I feel my heart is turning  
And falling into place  
I can't hide, now hear my confession._

Now happiness, love and peace radiated from Robin, and Raven now felt like she had achieved some sort of peace in her life. The two sat there in comfortable silence for a few minutes, mulling over their thoughts and thinking about the last 20 minutes. All almost complete in Robin's life, but he just had one more thing to say to Raven.

"Raven?" he called out softly. She turned her head in the sound of his voice, staring into his cloudy grey eyes.

"What is it?" she asked calmly, sedately.

"When I die, don't mope around forever. Live. Live your life as if there was no tomorrow, because I wish I had." he elaborated. "And don't even think of following me. Enough pain has been felt around here, and I don't think the others could take another blow like that." he added, looking at her, his expression hard. Raven began to protest that she would never do such a thing, but Robin cut her off with more coughing.

"When my parents died, I contemplated suicide. I thought my life had ended, that I no longer had a purpose. But I smacked some reasoning into me, and moved on. If I hadn't, I wouldn't of met you." He smiled, and gave her hand a gentle and reassuring squeeze. "I often look back and wonder what I was thinking, wanting to kill myself. But it makes sense now. You think that death is the only way out, and there is no other option. But there is. Life is much better than death, and a hell of a lot nicer too." Raven smiled and a tear rolled down the side of her cheek. Down the hall, even more jello blew up.

_You are the air that I breathe,  
you are the ground beneath my feet  
When did I stop believing._

"I won't," she whispered. "I promise."

"And I will hold you to that promise. I can be a nasty ghost if I choose to." he retorted. Raven laughed and wiped away the tear with her hand.

"I don't doubt it." she responded, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. Both their cheeks reddened and Raven could hardly believe that she just did that. But well, this day was full of surprises. She wondered where the other Titans could be, but then again, they probably weren't all moping around the Tower at once. That, and the hospital wasn't exactly close to the Tower and Jump City was no small place.

Robin let out a vicious cough and a little bit of blood appeared at the side of his mouth. Raven's eyes widened and Robin was getting agitated.

"Why the hell do I keep coughing?" he demanded. Raven lifted her solemn eyes to his stormy ones and sighed.

"It's the internal bleeding," she told him, "It must be affecting your lungs." Robin let out a small 'oh'; the fact that he was actually going to die hadn't hit him fully until now. And it did not make him feel good. He sighed and looked to his left at the heart monitor, his blood pressure was 90 over 60. He didn't have experience in medicine, but he knew that that was not good.

Raven was saying something, but his hearing was impaired and all he could distinguish is muffled moans. His eyesight wasn't doing to well either; things were becoming blurred and the edges of his eyesight darkened. Robin sighed, maybe he was dying now, and if he was, it wasn't so bad; not as painful as he thought it would be.

Raven looked over at Robin again, and saw that his eyes were gaunt and distant and his eyelids were beginning to droop. _Oh no you don't, _she thought, _I just got you back, don't leave me again._ But Death had come to collect its dues.

Before she could say anything more, his eyes closed completely and the heart monitor went dead. Her emotions went haywire, and tears began to slide freely down her cheeks.

XXXXXX

When the other Titans received Dr. Malayda's call, they were, in fact, scattered about the city; but got to the hospital as fast as they could. Coincidentally, they all arrived at about the same time, and darted up to Robin's room as fast as their legs could carry them.

Dr. Malayda was standing just outside the door, his face looking extremely haggard. Fearing the worst, Cyborg opened the door.

The Titans just stood there, staring at their friends as random things around the room lifted into the air and exploded. One was crying bitterly, the other dead. Raven's slim chance had finally slipped away.

_'Cause I feel myself surrender  
each time I see your face  
I am staggered by your beauty  
Your unassuming grace  
And I feel my heart  
Is falling into place  
I can't hide, now hear my confession  
I can't hide, now hear my confession _

XXXXXX

Well, there you have it. My first one shot. I hope I made you cry. Sadly, it makes me all warm, fuzzy and proud inside.

So what you need to do is leave me a review, and tell me if you did cry…or something like that. Mmkays?


End file.
